Improved steam-boiler



ATENT Tirreni.

vllili E. BIRD, OF OAHAVBA, ALABAMA.

HVlPROVED STEAM-BOELER.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. ll 1,316, dated July 1S, 1854.

To all wiz/0in, it ntf/,y concern:

Be it known that I, TILL E. BIRD, of Cahawba, in the county of Dallas and State of Alabama, have invented a new and Improved Arrangement of a Furnace with a Double Series of Steanroilers; and I do hereby declare that the following' is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification- Figure l being a front elevation of a furnace and boilers arranged and combined in my improved manner; and Fig. 2, a side elevation thereof, a portion of the jacket in. which the boilers are set being removed to show the arrangement more distinctly.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in both figures.

The nature of my invention consists in arranging a furnace with upper and lower boilers or series of boilers of different lengths substantially in the manner represented in the drawings, to wit:

The lower series of boilers, A, may be placed directly upon the ground or upon the deck of a vessel, and should have one, two, or more llues, a, passing through them. The upper series of boilers, A', should be placed a suitable distance above the aforesaid lower boilers, to give between them the requisite amount of flue-space for the gaseous products of combustion to pass from the lire chamber C, located in front of the lower boilers, to the space G at the rear ends of both sets of boilers. The front ends of the upper boilers project in front of the lower boilers a little more than the required length of the grate-bars c and form the top of the fire-chamber. The rear ends of both sets of boilers should be` in line with each other, or nearly so. y rlhe upper boilers, A', may be nia-de either with or without flues. If they have fines, the li ues will discharge themselves directly into the chimney F, as shown in Fig. 2. The front ends of the flues in the lower boilers all discharge into a flue-box, D, thc ends of which extend beyond the sides of the furnace, and are connected by the fluaarms E E with the chimney F. Vhere two or more boilers are used in each set, the spaces between them should be closed in with cement or other suitable substance in any well-known or usual manner. The frontot' the furnace is formed in any suitable manner. The sides of the furnace, and of the flue-space between the two sets of boilers, are closed up by suitable walls. At the rear ends of the boilersabreeching is placed, whichincloses the space G, Fig. 2, that communicates `with the flue-space between the two sets of boilers and with the iiues in said boilers. The upper and lower sets of boilers are connected to each other by a series of short tubes, I) b,which should be of sufficient size and nun1- ber to freely conduct the steam formed in the lower boilers to the upper boilers. The gaseous products of combustion pass in the direction of the red arrows in the drawings.

lt will be perceived that the intenseheatiu the furnace will act directly upon t-he under sides of the front portions of the boilers composing the upper set and upon a portion of the front ends of each boiler in the lower set, and that the iiame and hot gaseous products of combustion will act upon the under portion of each boiler of the upper set and upon the upper portion of each boiler of the lower set in passing from the furnace to the space G, and in passing thence to the chimney they will act upon the surfaces of the flues in the lower set of boilers and also upon the su rfaces of the fiues in the upper set of boilers, in case flues should be placed in them.

The advantages of this combination of a furnace with an'upper and lower setof boilers are the following, viz: First, the center of gravity is considerably nearer the deck,when

used on steamboats, than it can be placed in the ordinary arrangement of furnaces and boilers upon the boats navigating the lestern and Southern rivers; second, the heat generated in said furnace, when combined with the said upper and lower set of boilers, will also act efliciently upon a much larger surface than it can in the present arrangement of furnaces and boilers on the abovementioned steamboats, and consequently the consumption of a like quantity of fuel will.

generate a much larger quantity of steam; third, the bottom of the lower portion of each boiler' in the lower set, not being acted upon by heat, the water therein will remain tranquil, which will cause nearly all the mud in both sets of boilers to accumulate there, and

thereby prevent the bottoms of the boilers in the upper set from being' burned and injured in consequence of an accumulation of mud upon them; fourth, lthere is much less danger of collapsing the ues, or of explosion, when the boilers are arranged and combined with the furnace in the within-described manner, for the reason that the lower set of boilers must always be full of Water, and, as it is not an indispensable feature in my said arrangement that fines should be placed in the upper set of boilers, there need not be any collapsing of lues in said boilers. NVhen fines are placed in the upper set of boilers, they, being so few in number-rarely more than two-Will be so near the center of the boats motion that there will be much less danger of their becoming uncovered by the careening of the boat.

I shall not always combine a furnace with double sets of boilers, but shall sometimes apply the principles of my invention by placing' one boiler, A, below, and two boilers, A', above, or vice versa, and combine them with each other by means of the tubes b, and com` bine them with a furnace and chimney, sub stantially as herein set forth.

What -I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the lower boilers or boiler, A, and the upper boilers or boiler, A', with each other and with the furnace C in such a manner that the top of the furnace will be formed by the upper boilers or boiler, A', and the rear of the furnace be principally formed of the lower boilers or boiler, A, while the uespace from the said furnace passes between the said upper and lower boilers and communicates with the iiues, returning through the lower boiler or boilers, A, substantially as herein set forth.

WILL E. BIRD.4 Witnesses:

J. S. BROWN, A. CLIFTON. 

